Naritasan Shinshoji temple

Naritasan
Shinshoji is a Shingon Buddhist temple, and is located about 1 km
north of Narita station of JR and Keisei Line.
(It is near central Narita city, and Narita International Airport is
located about 7 km east of central Narita city.)
It is one of the famous temples in Kanto region, then nearly 3 million
worshipers visit here during first three days of New Year, and it ranks
second after Meiji Shrine in Japan.

In 940, Emperor Suzaku in Kyoto dispatched a high priest Kancho to east
Japan to settle a civil war. Kancho brought a statue of Fudo-myouou.
And he prayed near here.
After that, he was ready to go back. But he was unable to move his
statue.
And he heard the statue said "I want to make the people happy here."

This story made an impression on Emperor Suzaku, then he built
a temple here.
It is the current Naritasan Shinshoji temple.

But this temple had fallen into ruin in the 16th century, in the the
age of
provincial wars.

In 1703, the statue of Fudo-myouou
was opened to the public in Edo (Current Tokyo).
The hidden treasure of Naritasan became popular among ordinary people
in Edo.
And Danjuro Ichikawa, the top actor of Kabuki at the time, had become a
believer of
Naritasan, then Naritasan had accept widely the belief.
Since that, many worshipers have visited here.

In 2008, the ceremony of the 1,070th anniversary was held.

The temple precincts are relatively wide, and there are many various
buildings in it.
Niomon gate, Three-story pagoda, Shakado hall, Gakudo hall and Komyodo
hall were built in the 18-19th centuries, so they are designated as a
nationally important cultural properties.

In the northeast part of the site, there is Naritasan Park.
It is a large park with some ponds and gardens, and has an area of 16.5
hectares.